The Wall Street Journal Editorial
Caspar Willard Weinberger
March 31, 2006
ARLINGTON, Va. – From the window of my office I can see the
flag pole on the main hilltop of historic Fort Myer, where
high-ranking officers, including the Army's Chief of Staff, have
resided for more than a century. The flag is at half-mast, as
it always is when great tragedies occur or when noteworthy Americans
have died.
I have written from this office for many years, and the
half-masted flag at Fort Myers has become a frequent sight.
But this afternoon as I watch the flag flutter in a gentle wind, I
am overcome with a sense of nostalgia and regret that surprises me.
"Cap" Wienberger would have liked that, I find myself
thinking. But it also would have embarrassed him just a bit.
If he had lived to see this tribute, Cap would surely have made some
self-deprecating joke -- and then deflected the whole subject onto
another deserving individual. Something like, "Well, if you
outlive enough of your adversaries the remainder will forget the
arguments and lower a flag for you."
*
*
*
For nearly four years during the Reagan administration I
had the privilege of working for, and with, Caspar Willard
Weinberger, first as an assistant secretary of defense and then as
secretary of the Navy. As part of his inner staff that met
daily with him, I once calculated that I had walked more than a
thousand miles of Pentagon office corridors between my office and
his. And in the years after he left the Pentagon, I counted
myself among the lucky former subordinates who were able to grab him
for lunch every now and then, or correspond on this issue or that,
or even, as it turned out, to give him advice on his ever-aspiring
writing career.
In this town of inflated egos and ruthless ambition, I have
never met a more gracious man. And in a lifetime that,
beginning with my father's military service, spans every secretary
of defense, I can think of no one who has ever held that office with
more competence, intellect and understanding of our country's place
in the world.
Memories surround me: of Cap holding court among his
inner staff day after day, receiving the morning briefings from his
key subordinates, questioning their reports, giving guidance across
a broad spectrum of issues with humor and incisive intellect.
This was a man -- rare in government circles -- who was not afraid
of strong personalities, who encouraged debate, who brought out the
creative energies of people with a wide array of backgrounds and
policy interests. Unlike so many government leaders who do not
want to hear bad news, or who wish only to direct their subordinates
from the top, Cap wanted to know, and the country was better off for
it.
When Cap Weinberger took office as secretary of defense in
1981 our military was in a truly worrisome state. Its people
were burnt out. Our ships, aircraft and weapons systems were
depleted, on the verge of obsolescence. Our nation was
demoralized by the aftermath of the Vietnam War and the humiliation
of the failed attempt to rescue hostages in Iran, and worried sick
about the Soviet takeover of Afghanistan. Nearly seven
brutally demanding years later, he left behind a modernized,
properly deployed military force filled with quality people.
He had implemented a strategy that soon thereafter brought an end to
the Soviet Union's expansionist regime. And he had put into
place a doctrine regarding the use of force that, perhaps unfairly,
became more associated in the public's eye with the views of his
disciple Colin Powell than of his own.
It is painful for those who knew and respected Cap
Weinberger to see his name, even in his obituaries, associated with
the Iran-Contra affair, an endeavor that he himself had advised
against. But his loyalties were astounding, even legendary
among the Reagan inner circle. In the end they defined even
his darker moments.
But Cap accepted that, just as he accepted the
inevitability that others might shine brighter in the limelight that
he himself made possible. One of his favorite quotes in those
later years, when he would find the time to meet for lunch, was one
he attributed to Ronald Reagan: "You can get a lot done in
this town if you don't care who takes credit for it."
